Streeter in minor accident

Nashua Mayor Bernie Streeter got into a minor traffic accident over the weekend in Manchester while driving the 2002 Ford Crown Victoria the city leased for his office.

“It was just a minor fender-bender,” Streeter said Monday, and his account of the damage suggests that might even be an exaggeration.

A plastic piece around the headlight on the mayor’s car was broken, while the Queen City Taxi cab with which he collided sustained no apparent damage, Streeter said. No one was hurt.

Manchester Police Officer John Buchan has yet to complete his investigation, department spokesman Mark Fowke said Monday, and police have not determined whether either driver was at fault. No one has been cited for any violations, he said.

“The damage to both vehicles was minor,” Fowke said.

The collision took place shortly before 11 a.m. at the intersection of Pine and Central streets in downtown Manchester, Fowke said.

Streeter was driving north in the right lane of Pine Street, a two-lane, one-way street, and turning left onto Central, Fowke said. The cab, a 1995 Crown Victoria driven by Eddie Mercier of Manchester, was heading north in the left lane, he said.

“I was turning left and the car came up on my left,” Streeter said.

Streeter said he walked around both vehicles and didn’t see any damage to the cab. He and the cabdriver had words while their vehicles were stopped in the street.

“I think we were both a little upset,” Streeter said. “I said, ‘Didn’t you see my blinkers?’ and he made a comment that it was a one-way street.”

Streeter went to the Manchester police station, spoke with an officer, and got an accident report form, he said. Mercier spoke with an officer at the scene, Fowke said.

Mercier could not be reached for comment Monday.

The city got the Crown Victoria new in 2001 for Streeter and his staff to use for city business. Streeter uses the car personally, he said, but pays the city about $9 a week, which covers 25 miles at the federal mileage reimbursement rate of 36.5 cents a mile.

“I feel I should do it,” Streeter said, referring to reimbursing the city for private use of the car.